Easy to read and a compelling story based in a coastal town in Ireland where everyone knows everyone’s business. Reminded me a bit of my time in the South in the US. Flipping between perspectives naturally, Binchy shares a very personal side to the story through the spiderweb of characters in a small town. Forces at work beyond the characters’ control left me questioning what I would have done if it were me. How did they manage to persevere? ( )

I like reading Maeve Binchy as the characters are so real, the intertwined plots resonate with me as I either have lived it or know of someone who has. Although you get a general idea of what is going to happen and how the characters are going to act or react, as a reader I keep reading as every chapter is an emotive read. Binchy tells the story of lives that are intertwined through the years, the challenges, of love, class, hardships, infidelities, betrayal and tragedy, where the echoes of the past can be hard to shake off. This is an Irish novel, set in the bygone era 1950’s -60’s, a time and place, that seem so long ago but aspects of which makes me realise that although the world has moved on, it retains echoes of a of that time in terms of prejudices, judgements.
This is the story of working class Claire O'Brien, a shopkeeper's daughter, bright and ambitious, determined to escape her circumstances, helped by her teacher, Angela O'Hara, Claire gains a scholarship that takes her to Dublin to study. Then there is David Power, the local doctor's son, who meet up in Dublin where nobody knows them from their hometown so do not judge them as begin classes apart (rich – poor). They fall in love, marry and start a family but struggle to bridge the class divide, which leads David to have an extra marital affair with Caroline Nolan, a solicitor who is from a rich privileged background. Gerry Doyle, a local photographer, from a similar background as Claire, and who obsessed by her since their schooldays, aims to right this wrong by sending photos to Claire, and Caroline of both David and Caroline illicit affair. Gerry in the hope, of this being exposed, that Claire will leave David is heartbroken when she remains the ever-loyal wife.
Binchy makes characters we love and hate but we want to know more about these people and what will become of them. The ending was sad but I also felt angry with her, David, his mother, Agnes (Claire’s mother) and Chrissie (Claire’s sister) for not supporting her more. I do not know what I would have done in Clare's situation at the end of it all but I wished her happiness and hoped that she made something of her intellectual mind. ( )

Review to follow ( )

The story follows the lives of David and Clare for about 15 years from small town Castlebay, Ireland to Dublin and back. Clare is the daughter of a shop owner, smart but poor. David is the son of the local doctor, private schooled and well off. Others are also followed: Clare's sister Chrissie, local mover Gerry Doyle, and teacher Angela. Not a lot of real likeable characters and slow moving. Ending was meh after all that. ( )

I really enjoy Binchy's stories set in small Irish villages and the way she depicts the conservative, insular Irish culture changing through the years (in this case, the 1940s-1960s). Because this is one of her earlier books, it's a more cohesive story, not a series of connected character studies (the way, say, [Copper Beech] is) in which we see the same events through the eyes of different characters.

The main characters — 10-year-old Clare O'Brien, daughter of a shopkeeper, and 15-year-old David Power, only child of the local doctor and his rather snooty wife — are appealing and easy to root for from the start, though events that happen toward the end of this (long!) novel put them in a different light. And as usual, Binchy populates Castlebay with a winning assortment of secondary characters, from the playboy Gerry Doyle to Father Flynn to teacher Angela O'Hara, who sees something of herself in Clare that makes her the girl's fierce champion in her goals to attain a proper education.

The ending, though ... oof. I don't remember thinking much of it when I first read this as a twentysomething, but today? It's hard not to want David strung up by the twig-and-berries for the infidelity he so casually excuses with "my wife just had a baby and is no long focused exclusively on me and my sexual needs". Just, no. ( )

A nice read about life in a small Irish town which is so religious. Liked until the ending which was a way to end the story but not the way I felt it should end. Truly loved the characters Angela, Father Flynn, and Dr. Power as so deeply caring about people and their feelings. ( )

This has been my least favorite of Binchy's books so far, mostly because of the ending. The characterizations are good and so is the setting, but I guess the truth is that the characters' choices drove me crazy and what I thought would be a nice heartwarming sort of book ended up being depressing. ( )

A good Maeve Bincy book. I had read it before. Parts were vaguely familiar. I was a little disappointed by the ending. ( )

A saga style of novel set in an Irish coastal town, featuring a group of people as they grow up and discover life and love.

Pleasant, and well-written, but nothing special. I enjoyed re-reading it, but didn't feel close to any of the characters. I'd have given three-and-a-half stars if I could... ( )

Not among my favorites. Much too long. ( )

Clare and David - divided as children by a rigid social code that branded her as shanty Irish and he as gentry class...brought together as adults by a passion that couldn't be denied. It was a desire that knew no class, no barriers, only the urgent hunger of two people destined to love and ready to defy any convention used by a world determined to keep them apart.

Even at fifteen, David Power knew eleven-year-old Clare O'Brien's dearest wish, to win a school prize. But it was years before Dr. Power's cherished only son recognized in the huckster's daughter his own heart's desire. Here in Castlebay, perched precariously on the seaside cliffs, the lines between them were clearly drawn.

Clare's only hope is to leave the town where time stopped, propelled by scholarships to Dublin, fueled by her own drive and brilliance, far from the insular, gossipy world of Castlebay and those held in its thrall...Angela O'Hara - beautiful, insolated, a teacher trapped in the convent school, who risks everything to help Clare escape...Gerry Doyle, the town charmer who finds in Clare the woman he vows to have at any price...Caroline Nolan, the beautiful, rich outsider who comes to plunder.

For Clare, that was before the wild freedom of Dublin, and love. And David. Before fate drove them back to Castlebay, and the past.

I truly enjoyed this book, as I usually do with any book by Maeve Binchy that I read. Reading Maeve Binchy's books, even rereading some of them, as this particular book Echoes was for me, is almost like returning to familiar places and visiting old but very familiar friends. I read Echoes for the first time maybe a decade to fifteen years ago and enjoyed this book then as well. I give this book an A+! and have placed it on my keeper bookshelf to enjoy again at some point in the very near future! ( )

This Binchy book didn't grab my attention like most of her others, and I didn't really get all that interested in either the plot or the characters until about halfway through. The novel tells the story of young, ambitious Clare O'Brien, who works extraordinarily hard to escape her home-town, only to return several years later under different circumstances. ( )

Not one of my favourite Maeve Binchy novels. The story was quite easy to follow, and it had the usual gossipy Irish/Catholic content. I was gutted by the things that happen to Claire in the first half of the book, but somehow my sympathy dissipated as the plot meandered through the second half and seemed to get a bit lost. Maeve Binchy's later novels are a lot more polished. ( )

I can't believe there was a Maeve Binchy book I missed. And since this was one of her older novels, it was much better than her recent books, with the deep character development so inherent in her earlier works. Now, I want to reread some of her other earlier works that have been hiding on my shelf. ( )

It was slightly different from her usual style of typical expected ending but i liked it. Her characters came alive and it was all in all a good summer read ( )

I picked up this book because I enjoyed reading The Copper Beech. Unfortunately, I just cannot seem to get into Echoes. I tried three times to read this book and failed to be engaged each time, so it is time to give up on it and pass it along to someone who will enjoy it more. ( )

In Echoes, Maeve Binchy presents realistic characters who show both their loveable and their hateful sides, making them extremely human. This is actually a full novel that has many characters interacting in one plot, which is better than Ms. Binchy's use of many characters in separate plots. Echoes is a light, easy, enjoyable read suitable for a summer evening. ( )

I do not remember the first time I read this book or one of the other's written by Ms. Binchy and dealing with people in Ireland. I was engrossed by the stories, but more by the picture of the culture. I was very disappointed in the first of her books to take place elsewhere, as I think the cultural aspects of the novels are what drive the stories. Still I have read them time and again and always look at her new works to see the subjects. I almost always give them a try and am rarely disappointed by the books where she talks about what she knows. ( )

Every once in a while, I need a story where I know that things will turn out all right in the end. Maeve Binchy always delivers, although with this story, things came a bit close to not turning out ok. As endings go, this is probably the least happy I’ve read from her. It surprised me and I liked that.

This one does not deviate from the normal Binchy pattern –
Small Irish town – check
Headstrong female protagonist – check
Oppressive Irish tradition – check
Going against the grain, but accepted in the end – check
Multiple romances – check
Rejection of the big city (Dublin) - check
A small town becoming suddenly prosperous and popular – check
People finding their places in life & being happy in them - check
Some minor tragedies, nothing earthshattering – check
A happy ending – check

These books are comfort books for me in some sense. When I don’t want excitement and danger of too high a degree, I look for one of these warm tales of people overcoming odds and sharing their lives with remarkable patience and open communication. Makes me sort of long for that kind of world, but then I remember how stifling the closeness of those Irish villages are and how I would hate it, even if I had my own happy ending. ( )

Classic Binchy story. ( )